Answer: A person asks questions about the meaning of life from childhood until he begins to develop hormonally. Then he forgets about these questions. But if they arise again later in life, he looks for answers to these questions.

Today there are quite a few such people. We can see this according to the number of people who are depressed or who suppress these troubling, tormenting questions by using drugs. Today these people make up half the world’s population and at least a high percentage take anti-depressant medication.

Therefore, the time has come for people to know that the wisdom of Kabbalah provides the answers to all their questions. Moreover, these are the exact answers they discover on their own and perceive as their attainment of the world, as the attainment of nature. At the same time, the answers they find don’t simply and abstractly connect to their questions, but they see how it works in their feelings, in the revelation of the world.

Thus, we should allow people not only to attain the world but also to change it, to change themselves and bring themselves and the world to the right connection that results in happiness, comfort, and harmony and balance between man and the world around him.

Here the wisdom comes to our aid, telling us how nature is arranged and what can be changed in man in order to reach harmony with nature and to exist in our world in a state of perfect balance. Balance is happiness.[150795]From KabTV’s “The New Year” 12/25/14

The role of the Jewish people, its goal, motivation, concept, and philosophy of life—is unity for the sake of discovering the Creator.

At first, this desire was awakened among a few Babylonians 3600-3800 years ago. It came from the Creator and it is not by chance that only a few were awakened.

Nowadays, this is discovered in the same way among a few and “bypasses” the others. Specifically to this is connected the concept of the “chosen people.”

First of all it is important to understand here that this is not talking about some kind of “national preference.” Initially, people who came out of various peoples and tribes united around Abraham.

Since then, essentially the Jews have not been a people in the traditional sense. People become the people of Israel (ישראל) only on condition that they yearn “Yashar-El” – ישר-אל (straight to the Creator), meaning, only if they want to discover the Creator.

Everyone Can be Chosen

Question: Does this mean that every person in the world, if such a desire is awakened in him, can join the people of Israel and be called “chosen”?

Answer: Yes, certainly. Such a person joins a group of people who directly yearn for the Creator and aspire to discover Him in a unique connection between them.

Today most of the inhabitants of Israel don’t know about their mission, that they must become a “Light to the nations,” i.e., transmit this method to the whole world by accepting among them everyone in whom this desire is awakened.

Throughout the generations many people who belonged to other tribes and peoples joined in this way to a group called the “people of Israel,” for example, Onkelos or the parents of Rabbi Akiva and many others. In other words, there were many like these who came from other peoples and stood as leaders of the people of Israel.

Immersion into Humanity

Question: But why are the Jewish people considered to be chosen even today when they are far from their original idea?

Answer: Because this task, this mission, doesn’t pass from one people to another. It maintains its original conditions.

There was a time when a strong desire burned to attain mutual connection and in it to reveal the Creator. They were actually ready to realize this role.

And after that, throughout history they passed through a multitude of stages and fell from the high level that required their connection, breaking away from this message, from this goal, and severed the intentional purposeful development leading to a mutual connection for discovering the Creator.

This happened because for a particular time they needed to be under the influence of the forces of separation, to feel the “heaviness of heart” directed against unity, where the goal was concealed until it was completely forgotten.

Only in this way was it possible to acquire the means required to work with the whole world and pave the way for them towards unity with the Creator. This is the reason that the Jews were scattered over the face of the earth and lost their original idea. First they had to discover the immense desire, the “tough temperament” latent in humanity infused with materialistic needs, and immerse into other cultures in order to serve the people correctly after this during their movement towards the goal.

This period of exile that ends in our day, “by definition,” had to be long. It continued for two thousand years and was known in advance. And about its end, it was said that from the year 1995 the concept of being “chosen” and the discovery of the Creator in the general mutual connection would be reawakened.

This stage is being revealed and opened in front of us today. It might not be as fast as desired, but it is a historical process that is directed from above and has its own rate, its own milestones, and all kinds of situations along the way.

The Return of the Chosen

In any case, even though we don’t know all the details, we see that the concept of uniqueness lives in the Jewish community. Similar claims of other peoples are connected to conceit, arrogance, the rule of force, and other characteristics of mutual antagonism.

But with us, being chosen was based upon an opposite perception from the start: We must serve as an example of unity that is imperative for humanity today. It is unity that leads us to the discovery of the force of bestowal and love, which is the Creator.

The previous era ended with the twentieth century. The people revived their nation, and now we must return to it the inner essence, that foundation that makes it a people: unity. Moreover, the unity is directed Yashar El (straight to the Creator), based on “You shall love your friend as yourself.”

This is what must be discovered now in the people of Israel and to reform it as the “chosen people” upon whom a particular task is imposed.

In accordance with this, even the external pressure again indicates that we are a unique people who are going along a unique historical path.[150707]From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/28/14

The Torah, “Leviticus” 19:32: You shall rise before a venerable person and you shall respect the elderly, and you shall fear your God. I am the Lord.

The wisdom of Kabbalah regards everything that happens as a system of forces that manage the egoistic desires: the still, vegetative, animate, and human nature and the whole world, the whole universe.

If we present this schematically, we see a system that is made of 125 levels in which every internal, egoistic desire gradually must become altruistic. Then, a person will see the whole world in an opposite manner, and instead of our world, he will feel that he is in the upper world. The egoistic matter will become anti-matter.

Today, even physicists say that the black matter that we don’t feel is greater in strength and takes up greater space than all of the matter that we can see and feel in our egoistic senses.

When we ascend the levels of the spiritual ladder, every new level is always more altruistic, more corrected, and more illuminated than the previous level.

Every Partzuf—which means every structure of the soul—acquires the form of a human body. The white Light makes the hair on the head lighter, and it is as if it is covered with snow like Mt. Hermon, which embodies the head of the spiritual Partzuf.

Such a state is called greatness or standing, as a person must stand before the hoary head that is revealed to him from above in order to attain it. Therefore, the commandment of, “Thou shalt rise up before the hoary head, and honor the face of the old man,” has nothing to do with the morality of our world but refers to a spiritual correction.

In order to reach a state of “a hoary head,” which means to rise to the next level where everything is based on absolute bestowal, we must be in our greatest state, having corrected our lowest egoistic desires; while a state of smallness or sitting is characterized by the fact that we correct only the upper part of our desires, the weakest ones.

Question: Why is it that every law ends with the words, “I am the Lord?”

Answer: Because a person cannot justify these laws in our world. It is only if you aspire to the Creator in order to attain the upper force and want to resemble it that these laws are for you. These are laws of your movement toward adhering to Him.

Otherwise, there is no point in observing them. On the contrary, if you observe them in order to have a good life, you are drawing away from Him.[150615]From KabTV’s “Secrets of the Eternal Book” 4/16/14

Question: What kind of a connection is there between the meaning of our existence and the attainment of the higher power?

Answer: This is the most primal force of nature. It is higher because it is specifically what manages everything; it is the power of bestowal and love that spreads around it all that is within it: its energy and fulfillments. It specifically created the power of reception to fill it and lead to a unique level of existence.

The power of bestowal is whole because it doesn’t require anything, and the power of reception that was created by it is very limited and poor because it always lacks something but is unable to get what it lacks by itself.

Question: People have become accustomed to imagining the higher power, the Creator, as some kind of personality with whom we have made a covenant and that now accompanies us. It is difficult to perceive this simply as a form of energy, as something that is inanimate.

Answer: Is it truly difficult to imagine this? Even in our physical world, there are a multitude of different forces that are unknown to us. So, why is it so difficult for us to perceive the existence of the higher power? On the contrary, besides forces, nothing else exists.

All that I see around me are forces that are shaped within my perception in the form of physical images that seemingly exist: the nature of the still, vegetative, animate, and human. However, in principle, all of these are manifestations of the same power.

Question: How do we enter into relationships with this power?

Answer: This is the power of desire. When we create a relationship with someone, in this manner, we use our energy to move away or connect, to approach, to create contact. In reality, only one force exists and nothing more besides this. This conclusion has even been reached today by physics, a purely material science.

Upon deeper investigation, matter that we observe disappears; it exists only in our perception. The entire world we feel is a figment of our imagination. Only forces that act upon and influence our brain exist, painting in it a picture that seemingly is placed in front of us. However, all of this is the result of the work of forces, like an image on a computer screen.

Question: And each one of us is also a force?

Answer: A person is only the force of reception. However, this force is composed of different forces of reception that are linked in various kinds of relationships, and therefore all people differ from each other. The force of reception is the force of the desire to receive.

A person is a desire to receive, but he has many desires for various fulfillments that are intertwined. Each one has his particular combination that is typical of men, women, children or adults. Yet, in fact, this is only a desire to receive pleasure from all kinds of possible sources.

Question: So, what do we mean when we talk about a connection of the Jewish people with the higher power?

Answer: Abraham taught people how to attain the goal of life, the general program of nature, if they had a desire for this. This is possible if a person attains the power of bestowal that is found above us, and it is possible to attain it on condition that we build relationships between us that will be similar to the force of bestowal. For this, we must attain love for others like love for ourselves, mutual love.

To the degree that we begin to discover such forces of love, unity, and mutual sharing between us, then, within them, we discover the power of bestowal.

Question: If we create relationships of love and reciprocity between us, then, within them, we discover the same higher power with which, as we say, the Jewish people made a covenant? What is this higher power?

Answer: This is the higher power of love and bestowal, a desire to do good for others from our power of love. People who have a connection with the higher power are called the Jewish (Yechudi) people, Jews, because they understand that there must be unity (Yichud) between us and the higher power.

The power of reception is given to us from birth, and it is very great specifically in these people. Therefore, they are called “stiff-necked people.” However, we understand that it is necessary only so that with its help we discover the power of bestowal. The power of egoism burns within us and distances us from each other, forcing us to search for the power of bestowal, connection.[150663]From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/25/14

Question:Abraham was the first Kabbalist. He gathered people around him who supported him and developed in them an ability to see the forces that manage the world. Does this mean that they could seemingly rise above the normal flow of life to another height and from there see the forces that manage everything?

Answer: Yes, they knew how to manage the world, and so they understood how it was necessary to be included in this management and to guide the whole world in the best way towards the goal, just like pioneers who lead everyone after them. The potential was given to the Jewish people to manage the world in the most desirable way, bringing it to correction, to complete redemption.

The complete redemption means that the higher power has been revealed to its full and complete extent to all of humanity and in all of still, vegetative and animate nature. Managing the world means teaching and helping it to advance towards this final and wonderful state. This is management through the power of love.

Comment:Management is generally perceived in a negative way.

Answer: This is because they could not hold their position at a spiritual height and raise themselves to the management of the whole world. Instead they fell from this height. And so all the forces that acted on them in a wonderful spiritual form, became negative. As long as the people of Israel are found at certain height, it is higher than everyone else. But when it falls, it is below all other people.

Question: Is there hope that this people will rise?

Answer: This is not even a hope, but an obligation. The mission has not been removed from the people of Israel, and thus it is obligated to carry it out. If this were only just an option, then the Jewish people would be indistinguishable in any way from the rest of humanity. History has seen many people who were exiled from their land, scattered among other peoples, and disappeared.

But the Jewish people have remained in spite of everything, because they are obligated to fulfill their mission.

Question: You use words that are customary in religion: prayers, complete redemption, and the like. Does this mean that ultimately all people must become religious and move towards Judaism?

Answer:No, this is not about religion, but about all people connecting into a single sphere without any difference between them. Everyone must be included within it according to his nature, his internal forces, and he must connect with all the rest with ties of absolute love and complete bestowal.

When attitudes like these are revealed among everyone, then within our connections, within this entire sphere, we discover the Creator, the overall power of bestowal and love. There is no connection to religion in this. Our world in general will rise above all material and exist only on the level of desires of reception and bestowal.[150700]From KabTV’s “A New Life” 12/25/14

Question: Now in Russia there is a severe crisis, isolation from the world community. What is the reason for this situation in this nation?

Answer: Russia is a nation with many contradictions. In fact, all kinds of varieties of Eastern European Jewry have lived there.

For many years, beginning from the Baal Shem Tov (in the 16th and 17th centuries), the modern Kabbalah developed in Russia, which turned its theory into practical Kabbalah. So the Baal Shem Tov and his followers influenced all of the peoples who lived in this multi-ethnic nation.

Moreover, this influence was not that the inhabitants of the nation began to understand the Jewish culture better. It was much deeper and was realized on an internal level. There was a paradigm shift, a kind of transformation of people’s attitude to the world, to life, to themselves. Specifically in this is the uniqueness of the Russian people.

Unfortunately, the crisis in Russia continues to deepen, as if the whole world is all in a forward movement towards increasing closeness, general dependence, even selfishly, yet Russia is constantly trying to isolate itself from everyone else.

Many nations understand that it is impossible to do this and are gradually beginning to gather together. The general worldwide dependence that is being discovered carries an obligation that is either negative or positive. Especially in the example of Russia, we see a generally negative dependence. Nothing good will come from this. The nation will learn from its mistakes.

It is impossible to go against nature, which is gathering us together, aspiring to balance and unity. This is the goal of creation, its program, which must be supported and must go forward. The wisdom of Kabbalah explains how we must approach this so that in every stage of social development we feel better, walking together with nature, with the same forces that shape us, and not opposing them.

But Russia opposes these forces; so it will lose in many areas, and as a result it will suffer.

By itself, it cannot provide itself with everything. In our world this is impossible; no nation can exist in isolation. All that they talk about in Russia are substitutes for imports; this is something that is absolutely unrealistic. Today nobody does this. Every nation manufactures a particular group of products for the common good and exchanges them, trades with other nations.

I suppose that in Russia an internal and external revolution should take place because this nation still exists in the Tsarist regime. Nothing has changed in its conduct from previous generations. If the Tsar was replaced by Lenin, after that Stalin, after that Khrushchev and Brezhnev, and now Putin, nonetheless, they all managed and continue to manage according to the same methods. No forward movement has occurred. And until this very day, the autocracy remains in power.

In today’s modern world, this phenomenon is a terrible anachronism. These nations no longer exist even in Africa. So isolation will simply be a disaster for such a great nation if they don’t reach an understanding that step-by-step they must consciously change their attitude towards the world, towards life, and towards themselves.[150683]From KabTV’s “The New Year” 12/25/14